Site Columns

I'm so happy that the new Doctor Who has finally made it to my side of the Atlantic! (I thought about hacking my DVD player just to be able to watch the Region 2 DVDs.) I was never a great fan of the older ones, but Christopher Eccleston is wonderful and the show manages a nice balance of wit and sci-fi curiosity. I was a real geek again last week in general; to celebrate William Shatner's 75th birthday, I actually watched the TV Land Awards, not only because he was presenting Adam West with a trophy for Batman (West and Burt Ward announced that they would show off their "incredible crime-fighting physiques", which are not, err, quite as trim as they were were), but because the the Dallas was there including Larry Hagman and Linda Gray, and Jonathan Kent a.k.a. John Schneider sang The Dukes of Hazzard theme song. And Donny and Marie doing "Get Back, Honky Cat" on old tape! Plus they did a feature, Grey Anatomy, about all the older actors who've played doctors -- Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was stuck in the elevator and Doc from The Love Boat was hitting on Hot Lips Houlihan.

And then, of course, we watched Living in TV Land: William Shatner. "Who does this guy think he is?" asks Shatner, speaking of himself as a singer. Then the show cuts to him forty years ago, "This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise," and then as T.J. Hooker and Denny Crane, each introducing himself in similar fashion. Then there's a cut to an interview with Leonard Nimoy, who says, "I don't know if I would call Bill a singer." Would Nimoy call himself a singer, I wonder? How about a poet? I hope Living in TV Land takes him on next. There are also awesome cameos, including one by the late John Spencer saying he's a fan of Shatner's and he wouldn't sing theme song of The West Wing at the Emmys the way Shatner sang the Star Trek theme song. But for me, the best aspect of this special is that Shatner sings a love song to Spock. Okay, so maybe the TV Land producers made it look that way, but he's singing, "Don't change because you think I might like that. I fell in love with you," while they're showing Kirk staring at Spock, then Shatner elbowing Nimoy, then all kinds of Kirk/Spock bonding moments that would have done any fan slash songvid proud.

Trek BBS Today

Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

Manga Trek May Be On the WayAnime publisher Tokyopop announced plans to bring a Star Trek manga series set in the Next Generation era to comic stores at Wizard World LA.

Shatner Confirmed For 'Practice' SpinoffWilliam Shatner (Captain Kirk) was expected to become a regular on the spinoff of The Practice on ABC, reprising the role of Denny Crane after appearing in the final episodes of that series to set up the new drama about the law firm Crane, Poole & Schmidt.

Stewart To Perform Voices for DisneyPatrick Stewart (Captain Picard) signed to perform voice work for two very different upcoming Disney projects, the English-language dubbing for the DVD release of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and the new theme park musical Snow White.